Canopies are commonly employed to protect individuals, equipment, vehicles, furniture and other items from rain and other elements. Depending on the area to be protected, canopies can take the form of a covered walkway, a storage shed, a pavilion, a carport, a patio enclosure and a variety of other units for covering a particular area. For example, covered walkways are frequently employed to protect individuals from rain and the like while walking in between buildings or from a parking lot into a building and the like. Sidewalks connecting different buildings on the campus of schools may be protected by covered walkways so that the children can move from class-to-class during the school day while being shielded from the rain. Storage sheds, carports, patio enclosures and similar units with a roof but no side walls are commonly use to afford protection of equipment, vehicles, furniture and other items from rain, leaves, falling branches and the like.
Historically, canopies in the form of a covered walkway comprise a number of pairs of vertical posts wherein one post of each pair is located on one side of a sidewalk or other area to be covered and the other post in such pair is positioned in alignment with the first post on the opposite side of the sidewalk. Adjacent pairs of posts are spaced from one another in the direction the sidewalk extends. One end of each post is embedded in a concrete footer located in the ground in position along the side of the sidewalk. Once the posts are mounted to a concrete footer, they are permanently in place and cannot be moved without digging up the footers which is a time consuming, difficult and expensive proposition. Consequently, once a covered walkway of this type is in place it usually remains there unless damaged and can create an obstruction to the movement of equipment, materials and the like through the area occupied by the walkway.
The posts extend upwardly from the footers to the desired height of the walkway. A beam spans each pair of posts in a direction transverse to the walkway, and decking is attached to adjacent beams to form the “roof” of the walkway. Typically, each end of the beam is welded to one of the posts it spans. One method currently in use is to weld a bolt plate on the inside of each post and mechanically connect the beam to such bolt plate by fasteners, e.g. bolts, self-tapping screws or the like. Alternatively, a bent or angle is welded to both the post and beam to secure them together. The beams and posts of covered walkways are usually formed of extruded aluminum which is light weight, weather resistant and relatively strong. However, one issue with aluminum is that it is weakened when exposed to the heat required for welding. As such, the connections between the beam and posts in prior designs negatively affects the strength and durability of the walkway.
The same general construction described above is also employed for canopies in the form of pavilions, storage sheds, carports, patio enclosures and the like, except that the posts may not be arranged in pairs. Depending on the size and shape of the area to be covered, and/or the presence of obstructions in or around such area, the posts may be staggered from one another or otherwise arranged in some other non-uniform pattern rather than in pairs. The beams are fitted onto the posts, and the decking is mounted to the beams, in the same manner noted above. Nevertheless, and regardless of whether the canopy forms a covered walkway or other type of enclosure, all known canopies suffer from the problems described above, e.g. the posts remain permanently in place above ground thus preventing the canopy from being taken apart and reused, and, the aluminum forming the posts and beams is weakened as a result of welds at the connection points between the posts and beams.
The inability for canopies employed in the prior art to be reused is of great concern to a variety of potential customers such as school systems, companies, municipalities and the like. In many instances a canopy is needed for a one-time event, for an event that is held periodically, for temporary storage or for other situations wherein it is desirable to remove the canopy after it is used and then reuse the canopy for the same purpose or a different purpose at a later date. Canopies employing posts which are embedded within buried footers and remain permanently in place cannot accommodate such needs, and, as a result, are not cost effective for many potential customers. There is therefore a need for a more versatile canopy, which also eliminates weakening of the connection point between beams and posts due to welding.